flash

Yesterday, Adobe issued a new security bulletin warning of a new vulnerability in Flash, this one affecting the latest version of the plugin. The vulnerability left Flash open to exploits through which hackers could gain access to a machine, or that could cause the computer to crash. As with some other recent Flash vulnerabilities, the issue affected Linux, Windows, and Mac users, spreading the risk all around.

Well, it's only been a few months since the last major vulnerability was discovered in Adobe's Flash software, so we're right on time for another one. The company has issued a new security bulletin this week warning that the latest version of the Flash Player plug-in, number 19.0.0.207, is susceptible to an exploit that could cause PCs to crash or allow hackers to gain control. The bad news is that this applies to Windows, Mac, and Linux versions of Flash, and there is no guaranteed solution at this point, except for uninstalling the plug-in.

The battle against Adobe Flash content on the web continues to move forward. Google has just revealed that starting September 1st, its Chrome browser will automatically pause Flash content on web pages. This option has actually been available for some time now for beta users, but Google says it will soon become the standard default setting for all users. The setting works by detecting and pausing Flash content that isn't "central to the webpage," or, in other words, advertisements.

The Internet’s collective move against Flash — the frequently vulnerable software that increasingly has more downsides than up — just gained a big new ally: Amazon. The Internet retailer announced this week that it will soon stop accepting Flash advertisements, making it the latest company to gravitate away from Adobe's longstanding and much-maligned software. This announcement follows news earlier this month that Yahoo’s advertisements were used to spread malware that, ultimately, used vulnerable versions of Flash for success.

Yahoo was recently hit by hackers who used its advertisements to deliver malware to an unspecified number of visitors on several of its own websites, it has been revealed. The malware campaign carried on for a full 7-day week before Yahoo, having been alerted by the researchers who discovered it, took it down. Yahoo says it is investigating the matter, and though it has not revealed how many people were affected, it said through a spokesperson that the initial reports "grossly misrepresented" the scale of the attack.

Game broadcasting service Twitch has announced via its blog that it's officially migrating to HTML5 for its videos, and in turn phasing out the Adobe Flash format. The company, owned by Amazon, says not everyone will see the changes as once, as they're rollout the changes to accounts gradually. Once those changes start appearing, users will find the web-based video player has HTML5 and JavaScript-powered controls, instead of the Flash-based ones we're used to.

Adobe has pushed out a Flash Player security update to fix the latest critical vulnerability that garnered it attention today. This certainly isn't the first time Adobe has been forced to fix critical problems with its Flash software, but has spurred individuals and companies alike to call for the software's death. This update covers multiple versions of Flash player across a few platforms, but many in the industry still agree: it is time for Adobe to make its Flash Player fade away.

Mozilla, the company behind the Firefox web browser, has announced that it has blocklisted all versions of Flash that are vulnerable to security issues in the Firefox browser. The move comes after numerous security flaws that leave users running Flash vulnerable to hackers have been discovered on the Flash platform. The change to Firefox was announced by Mark Schmidt, the head of Firefox support, via Twitter recently.

Adobe has published a security bulletin that has confirmed a serious vulnerability in all forms of its popular Flash products across multiple platforms that it is offered for. The vulnerability exists in the Windows, Linux, and Mac products and Adobe says that it knows that an exploit targeting the vulnerability has been published to the public.

When it comes to a smartphone’s camera, many users side-step the flash — for day time and incognito snaps, it doesn’t serve much purpose. There are times when the built-in flash is needed, though, and in those times it usually proves inadequate, perhaps just strong enough to illuminate nearby subjects but not much else. iBlazr presented a solution to that with its first external smartphone flash by the same name, and now it is back with a refined version called the iBlazr 2.

Yes, this is a selfie generation. If you're still not convinced, or are still in denial, just look at the number of features and gimmicks that even smartphone makers employ to appeal to this crowd. While the new mid-range Samsung Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7 smartphones, now official in China, do not have the crazy rotating camera of an OPPO or the large sensor size of an HTC, they do have something very few have: a front-facing LED flash to illumine even the darkest of selfies.

Chrome may certainly be a capable browser, but it can also be a system-intensive one, and that's something Google is teaming with Adobe to address. Figuring Flash animations gone wild to be one of the biggest demands from webpages in Chrome, the two companies have come up with a system to hit pause on secondary content - thus easing up on your laptop battery life - while still keeping the primary content running.